Importance of Cancer Screening and the Potential Impact of Missed Screeings During Covid

Environmental & Science Education, STEM, Health, Medicine, Science & Society, Nature of Science

Ed Hessler

In this STAT interview, cancer reporter Angus Chen talks with Ahmedin Jemal and Jessica Star of the American Cancer Society (ACS) about the just published paper, "Cancer Screening in the United States During the Second Year of the COVID-19 Pandemic," Journal of Clinical Oncology. 

Even though Chen provides a link to the scientific  paper I link to for emphasis for it is worth taking a look. It includes an interestingly presented abstract, one divided into short sections: purpose, methods, results and conclusion as well as a section on the relevance of the study - key objective, knowledge generated, and relevance. You might also find interesting, the information about author affiliations (authors listed under the paper's title) and their respective contributions to the study (this at the end). 

Chen begins by noting that "When the Covid-19 pandemic brought ordinary life to a halt in 2020, routine cancer screenings fell off many people’s list of priorities. Screenings for cervical, breast, and prostate cancer all dropped in the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a new analysis from the American Cancer Society. 

"Over the course of 2021, screening levels recovered---but...there's still reason to be concerned about the impact of missed cancer screenings down the line." Routine screenings are important.

Chen asked these questions.

--What was the most important finding of this analysis?

-- The big fear was that we would see more cancer diagnoses at later stages after the pandemic. Has that happened?

-- Why do you think screening dropped off during the pandemic?

-- What are some of the key strategies that public health can use to increase screening rates quickly and get people to make up missed screening?

Another reason for taking a look at the scientific paper is that it is not long.